Katherine Torrance and James Heatly secure World Championships final berth

Katherine Torrance and James Heatly ensured it was a successful first day for Great Britain’s divers at the FINA World Championships.

They reached the finals of the 1m Springboard competition after both finishing in 10th spot in their respective preliminary rounds at the Nambu International Aquatics Centre.

Torrance was consistent throughout the contest – scoring between 44.85 and 50.40 for her five dives – and finished with a total of 236.75.

She was 51.20 behind China’s Yiwen Chen, who ended with a total of 287.95 to lead her nearest challenger by more than 30 points.

And this is how @Kat_Torrance booked her spot in the Women’s 1m Springboard final 🌟 pic.twitter.com/72tuPwphf5

— British Swimming (@britishswimming) July 12, 2019

Torrance competes in the 1m Springboard final on Saturday 13 July.

She said:“That was pretty good – it was steady and consistent, with a few things I could have done better, but overall I’m pretty happy.

“This is the only individual event I’m doing here, so I was hoping for a good result but I’m not too worried about it as it isn’t an Olympic event so it was more just to go out there and get a competition in ahead of the synchro.

“I’ll try and focus on myself in the final, just try and do each and every dive a little bit better than before and then see where I end up.”

Scarlett Mew Jensen, competing in her first World Championships, finished in 19th place on 217.10.

She was just outside the qualifying places in 13th spot after her first two dives but her third round jump – a back one-and-a-half somersault – only scored her 29.90 points and she dropped to 28th.

However, she recovered to score 43.20 and 50.70 with her final two attempts to climb back up the rankings.

Bittersweet for Heatly

In the Men’s 1m competition, Heatly admitted he was disappointed with aspects of his 10th-placed finish but pleased to reach Sunday’s final.

Heatly finished on 355.35 to book his final spot but had to claw his way back up the rankings after dropping to 21st place after his third dive.

But he finished strongly with scores of 64.35 and 66.30 to finish in the top 10.

Heatly said: “I’m really happy to make it through, obviously, but it was not the best performance from me.

“I opened up well but had a few mistakes here and there. I’m very glad and very happy to fight back and make it through and have a chance to do it all again.

“Normally I do not look at it [the scoreboard] but this time around I kept my on it and it kind of motivated me.

“Job one done – bring on Sunday.”

Meanwhile, Ross Haslam missed out on a place in the final.

He finished in 23rd place on 322.90 and said: “I’m very disappointed.

“That third round was not a good dive. I didn’t dip my head though and I tried my best to bring it back but it was too far gone unfortunately.

“I’m pretty proud of myself for not giving up after that dive to be honest, as in the past that would have been my head straight down.

“I kept pretty positive and did my maths, so I’d worked out what I needed, but I just couldn’t quite bring it back.

“I’m in action again on Tuesday in the team event with Eden, which will be the first team event I’ve ever done – it should be good!”